Propagating Lilaeopsis Novae-Zelandiae 'Mini' from Runners

How to spread Lilaeopsis novae-zelandiae 'Mini', the mini micro sword, by stolon runners and by splitting the mat into plugs to build a dense low lawn carpet.

Overview

Lilaeopsis novae-zelandiae 'Mini' is a smaller selection of the micro sword, a creeping member of the Apiaceae family native to Tasmania and the South Island of New Zealand. The genus is valued as a groundcover for its creeping growth habit, and this form makes a relatively easy foreground plant that forms a dense, grass-like lawn only a few centimetres tall.

Propagation Method (Runners)

The micro sword spreads through its creeping, stoloniferous habit: horizontal runners travel through the substrate and send up new blades, gradually knitting individual clumps into a continuous carpet. Because it is one of the slower stoloniferous plants, propagation is mostly a matter of patience plus dividing the mat as it thickens.

Step-by-Step

Plant small clumps in a grid across the substrate, leaving gaps for the runners to fill.
Push the roots into a rich organic substrate such as aquasoil, not bare sand or gravel.
Allow the runners to creep and connect the clumps into a solid mat.
Once the mat is dense, lift a section and split it into small plugs, each with roots and a few blades.
Replant the plugs in a fresh grid to start new areas of carpet.

Conditions for Healthy Growth

Lilaeopsis grows best in a rich, organic substrate rather than plain sand or gravel, with medium to high light and good fertilisation. High light is what keeps the blades short and the carpet tight to the substrate. Without injected CO2 it grows slowly and can take months to fill in, so CO2 supplementation noticeably improves health and fill-in speed.

Maintenance

Keep light strong so the lawn stays low and compact. As the mat matures, divide and replant plugs to thicken thin areas, and use algae eaters such as Amano shrimp to keep algae off the slow-growing blades. Maintain root nutrition to sustain steady runner growth.

Common Challenges

Very slow fill-in — expected without CO2; add CO2 and strong light to speed it up.
Blades growing tall instead of carpeting — raise light intensity to keep the lawn low.
Algae on the slow blades — add algae eaters and avoid nutrient imbalances.